Versatile actress Vanessa L. Williams delivers a touching,
heartwarming performance in the new movie The Courage To Love, which
airs Monday, Jan.24 on the Lifetime cable network (9 p.m. ET).

The film also marks the first time that Williams served as an
executive producer of a TV movie.

Inspired by a true story, Williams stars as Henriette Delille,
a heroic woman who fearlessly battles racism and religious
politics before the Civil War in New Orleans.

Delille is the founder of the Sisters of the Holy Family, an
international order of nuns dedicated to serving the poor and
elderly. Her devotion and life work continues to inspire today.
In 1989, she became the first woman of African-American descent
in the United States to have her cause for canonization
officially recognized by the Roman Catholic Church.

The film depicts a chapter in American history before the
Civil War in New Orleans when the French outnumbered the
Americans, and when free people of color enjoyed many privileges
of White society.

During an annual lavish gala called the "Quadroon
Ball," wealthy French and Spanish men meet and become
involved with young Black women from multiracial backgrounds.
Although the interracial couples are accepted in society and they
raise families together, they were forbidden to marry.

Williams' character rejects this racist tradition. Her mother
(Carroll) worries about her daughter and warns her not to resist
tradition. She urges her to participate in the "Quadroon
Ball" to find herself a wealthy White man who will provide
for her financially.

Instead, Delille turns to the Catholic Church to teach and to
care for the poor and needy. She also teaches young slaves how to
read and write. She becomes oneof the
first women of color to take an active part in the church's
day-to-day activities. However, she is frustrated by the politics
of the church and racism from both the church leaders as well as
the wealthy White members of the congregation.

Williams describes this unusual period of history depicted in
the film: "In New Orleans, and a little bit in Charleston,
and possibly other cities in the South, there was a community of
free Black people who had a chance to have legal rights, got a
chance to live with money and were educated in France and were
landowners also and also had slaves themselves," she
explains.

"So you hear about Creole and the mixture of races and
you know that Creole meant a melding of French and Black, but
this is the exploration of how it actually happened."

She describes her character's determination not to follow
tradition. "Her mother was a quadroon woman who was taken
care of and her sister also lived the same life and she did not
want to follow in the footsteps of her mother."

She says her character is very much a modern, courageous
woman. "She had a vision, and against all odds, she fought
for what she felt was right in her heart."

In the film, Delille is drawn to a wealthy White French doctor
(Gil Bellows) who offers her love and a life in France where they
can marry in peace. She must choose between the powerfill love of
one man and a divine calling to serve the less fortunate through
her work in church.

Explains Williams, "The Gerard love story is something
that we fabricated to help create conflict and make a very
romantic but also a distinct choice between the love for the
church and what would have been the easy way out-a man who truly
loved her and was going to take her away to a place where
virtually she would have no problems and not have the conflict of
being a colored woman in a society where she was not
accepted."

Williams adds, "She could not marry because back in the
day you could have concubines, but there were no Black and White
marriages or no free people of color and White marriages. So she
knew she could never be married, she knew it was against the
church to be living together with somebody and not be married and
morally she couldn't accept that, so she did not want that for
herself or for the future of her children"

Carroll notes the universal appeal of the mother and daughter
relationship. "The fact that these two women are highly
emotionally involved with each other yet, disagreeing on the most
basic principles of life, morality, character, we can all relate
to."

She adds, "I think that's one of the things that
attracted me to the project is that it's really a timeless piece.
It's the comments about relationship. In particular, the
relationship between the mother and the daughter, and I relate to
that completely having my own relationship with my
daughter."

Bellows says there are several messages in the film. "One
of them is follow your heart. Even though that might cause
problems in the short term, in the long run, the benefits will
far outweigh them. It doesn't mean it will [be] without
sacrifice. Sacrifice is definitely a part of going with your
heart, and I think the story illustrates that very well."

The multitalented performer also served as an executive producer
of "The Courage To Love"